Economist Debapriya Bhattacharya on Monday said that a kleptocracy was established from crony capitalism in the past 15 years under the Awami League regime ousted by a student-people uprising on August 5.
Politicians, businesspeople and civil and military bureaucrats established the kleptocracy, he said, highlighting the findings of the 鈥榃hite Paper on State of the Bangladesh Economy 鈥� Dissection of Development Narrative鈥� at a briefing at the planning commission in the capital.
Debapriya, who headed the 12鈥搈ember white paper committee, blamed the successive general elections since 2014 for the origin of the kleptocracy.
To him, members of kleptocracy influenced and manipulated key facets of the economy to serve their vested interests, concealed by an illusory development narrative sustained by inflated and misleading data.
The briefing was arranged a day after submission of the 鈥榃hite Paper on State of the Bangladesh Economy鈥� to chief adviser Muhammad Yunus on Sunday.
Describing efforts by the members and support teams聽 over the past three months, Debapriya, also a distinguished fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue, said that the report would be made public in printed form in a month.
The paper stated that the country lost $16 billion annually on an average between 2009 and 2023 because of the illicit fund flow amid systemic tax evasion, misuse of exemptions, and poorly managed public finances under the AL regime.
The white paper also highlighted that $14鈥�24 billion was lost to political extortion, bribery, and inflated budgets with the annual development programme projects worth $60 billion in the past 15 years.
Exploring the overall economy left behind by the AL regime, in 23 chapters, the 385-page white paper revealed that the banking sector was plagued by distressed assets of Tk 6.75 lakh crore as of June 2024, equivalent to the cost of constructing 14 Dhaka metro rail systems or 24 Padma Bridges.
Despite the fragile economic situation identified as the middle income country trap by committee member and economist Zahid Hussain, Debapriya said that they opposed the deferral of graduation from the least developed countries鈥� block from 2026.
He feared that such a decision might provide a political weapon to the ousted regime.
Indicating Sheikh Hasina who fled to India on August 5, Debapriya said that statements might be issued that the interim government ruined the LDC graduation platform laid by the AL regime.
Zahid Hussain narrated how the overstatement of the country鈥檚 gross domestic product by the AL regime had already put the country into a middle income country trap.
Besides, the loan trap due to foreign loans on high interest rates for implementing non-viable projects will cause sufferings for the next generations, said Mustafizur Rahmnan, a member of the committee.
Other committee members were also present at the briefing.
Debapriya made five recommendations, including formulation of a two-year policy by the interim government, the next six-month outlook and meetings with development and lenders.
